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Azerbaijan's central bank imposes new foreign exchange controls

Xinhua, January 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) has implemented stricter rules on cash exchanges in the country, local TREND news agency said Thursday.

Under the new rules, the authorities in Azerbaijan require clients to provide an identity card with a full name, passport details, registration place and date of birth, if the transaction is bigger than 500 U.S. dollars.

Each foreign exchange transaction or other services will be included in the bank's system, and the customer will receives an appropriate bank statement.

The new rules will regulate foreign currency exchange in banks, their branches, offices, local branches of foreign banks and the national postal operator.

"Foreign currency rate must be indicated on special electronic boards and banks are free to determine exchange rates of purchase and sale of foreign money, and in various offices currency rates may differ," TREND quoted CBA as saying in a message.

"Currency exchange rate may vary during the day. If the Central Bank determines a currency corridor for purchase and sale, banks have to follow it," the message said.

The CBA said it considers that the activity of currency exchange offices must be classified as that of high risk and strongly recommends the internal audit service of the bank to carry out inspections at least once a year.

CBA's foreign exchange reserves have declined by 7.513 billion U.S. dollars (54.6 percent) since early 2015. The decline has been observed since July 2014.

Azerbaijan has abandoned its currency peg and moved to a floating rate on Dec. 21, 2015. The decision was made to support the balance of payments, keep the foreign exchange reserves in the country at critical level and maintain the competitiveness of national economy on the international arena amid a barrage of intensifying external economic shocks.

Following the central bank decision, the U.S. dollar soared almost 48 percent against Azerbaijan's national currency.

For Thursday, one U.S. dollar is equal to 1.5626 Azerbaijani manat. Enditem